A comparison of the effects of dietary spray-dried bovine colostrum and animal plasma on growth and intestinal histology in weaner pigs

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary spray-dried bovine and porcine plasma and spray-dried bovine colostrum on growth performance and intestinal histology in weaner pigs. Thirty-two 21-day-old piglets (6.65 ± 0.14 kg) were allocated to receive one of four dietary treatments: control, bovine plasma, porcine plasma, and bovine colostrum at weaning and another 8 piglets were killed at weaning to provide baseline data. The experimental diets were offered ad libitum for one week, after which animals were killed and post-mortem measurements obtained. No differences in average daily feed intake and growth rate were observed among dietary treatment groups (P > 0.05). Baseline piglets had taller villi and shallower crypts (P < 0.05) in the proximal jejunum, mid jejunum and distal ileum than those observed a week after weaning, irrespective of dietary treatment. Weaning-related expansion of intestinal lamina propria CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocyte populations was observed (P < 0.05). Complex and variable treatment effects on villus height, crypt depth, villus and crypt goblet cell density, and lamina propria T cell density were observed, suggesting that the tested protein sources do not share a common or simple mode of action.